NEPAL/FILE: SHERPA COMMUNITY THRIVE WITH HELP TO BUILD SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS & BRIDGES FROM SIR EDMUND HILLARY'S HIMALAYAN TRUST

Record ID: 544563

  • Title: NEPAL/FILE: SHERPA COMMUNITY THRIVE WITH HELP TO BUILD SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS & BRIDGES FROM SIR EDMUND HILLARY'S HIMALAYAN TRUST
  • Date: 28th May 2003
  • Summary: NAMCHE BAZAAR VILLAGE, KHUMBU REGION, NEPAL (RECENT) (REUTERS) VIEW OF NAMCHE BAZAAR AND CHILDREN CLIMBING UP MOUNTAIN VARIOUS OF STUDENTS CLIMBING UP ROCKY MOUNTAIN FROM NAMCHE BAZAAR ON THEIR WAY TO SCHOOL KHUMJUNG VILLAGE, KHUMBU REGION, NEPAL (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF STUDENTS AT KHUMJUNG SCHOOL (SOUNDBITE) (English) SCHOOL HEAD MASTER SAYING: "Edmund Hillary addr
  • Embargoed: 12th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NAMCHE BAZAAR, KHUMJUNG, KUNDE, KHUMBU REGION, KATHMANDU, NEPAL
  • Country: Nepal
  • Topics: Education,Health,Politics,Education
  • Reuters ID: LVA7K1QJW25SOQN1WASRMH3EESAS
  • Story Text: It may be as long as fifty years ago since Sir Edmund Hillary climbed Mount Everest, but local Sherpas are still grateful to him for improving living conditions in the remote regions of the world's highest mountain. By setting up the Himalayan Trust in Kathmandu, Sir Hillary has helped build schools, hospitals and bridges around the dotted villages and improved living conditions dramatically.
    Most people remember Sir Edmund Hillary for conquering the worlds highest mountain. But to local villagers he has left a more lasting legacy. He has improved living conditions for local Sherpa's by building schools, hospitals and bridges in the villages surrounding Mount Everest.
    Although children in the Khumbu Region of Nepal have to climb, sometimes in freezing temperatures, up kilometres of steep, rocky mountain trail to get to school - they are the lucky ones. Their parents and grandparents never had such an opportunity.
    The Khumjung secondary school, built thanks the Himalayn Trust which Sir Hillary was set up over 40 years ago. The school is still the only secondary school in the region.
    "Edmund Hillary addressed a gathering of the people and asked them one question: 'What do you want?' The answer was: 'We need a school for our children because our children have eyes, but they cannot see because education is the most important thing,'" said Mahendra Kathet, the school head master.
    One of the first students in Khumjung was Ang Rita Sherpa who now heads Hillary's aid foundation, the Himalayan Trust in Kathmandu.
    "The first school Sir Edmund Hillary built was in my village and I was one of the first students, the first batch.
    We were a little bit scrubby and had no shoes and all that, but we had a good experience," he said.
    "It was a great opportunity for me, but none of my elder brothers and sisters had an opportunity to go to school and they are both illiterate even now, but we are very different.
    We had a step up in a very different life style and it's the result of the opportunity for education I had in Khumjung school," he added.
    Ang Rita says all 400 students know and appreciate Edmund Hillary for building their school 40 years ago.
    "If I met Sir Edmund Hillary, I would say thank you for giving us education," said Lakpa Tshering Sherpa, a 14 year-old student at Khumjung.
    "I dream of becoming a doctor so when people are sick I can take care of them and I can earn a living and help my family," said Ang Ngima Sherpa, a 12 year-old student at Khumjung.
    Where once life was defined by the mountains and the struggle for survival, life today on the roof of the world is slightly more forgiving thanks to the basic services that Hillary and his fund have provided. The education provided by the schools he has founded has helped many escape the confines of the lofty peaks to seek success elsewhere. Many Khumjung graduates are doctors, engineers and businessmen in Kathmandu or even further afield. One graduate, Ang Tshiring Sherpa, owns and runs Yeti Airlines which offers full domestic service in Nepal including flights from Kathmandu to Lukla, the highest accessible airstrip in the Himalayas.
    "Hillary was, for Sherpas, a kind of karma for every Sherpa family in the area because that was the only opportunity for all Sherpa people to go to school and have an opportunity to come out from the valley," he said.
    The Himalayan Trust, which received contributions from all over the world, had also helped set up a hospital in Kunde in 1966. As there are no roads in Khumbu, there are no ambulances.
    But even though some patients may have to walk for days to receive treatment, Dr. Simon Pulfrey, a volunteer physician, says the hospital is well equipped once they get there.
    "There's still a big burden of preventable disease, a lot of infectious diseases and because we have anti-biotics and because we can diagnose tuberculosis and we can treat that, it's made a major impact I think," said Dr. Simon Pulfrey, a Canadian volunteer physician at Kunde Hospital.
    But Shiva Bahadur has not been so lucky - the need to survive in these inhospitable mountains has kept him away from school. At 13, he has to work to help support his family. He and his father carry loads of goods and supplies to merchants and lodge owners in the area. With an ageing father, he will be expected to support the entire family of eight when his father becomes too old to carry the load. Shiva's father says he would like his son to be educated, but there is no time for studying.
    "Thirty-two kilos," Shiva says smiling shyly when asked the weight of his average load.
    "To help my family," he said.
    Shiva's father, Tejh Bahadur Bhujel Sherpa, says there is no way out for his family. They must work hard to survive and that leaves no time for the younger generations to build careers.
    "Farming because we don't have education, just farming and helping the family," he says referring to what he considers the only way to support his family.
    em/cr
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register